Gold Coast couple demand apology after traffic camera takes photo up wife’s skirt

Richard Arnold, seen on the left, and Anh Nyugen say this photo exposed her underwear. Picture / Nine News

An Australian driver is demanding an apology after a traffic camera snapped a photo of his wife’s underwear.

Richard Arnold was issued a $1078 fine after the camera caught his wife Anh Nyugen with her arm outside the seatbelt as she adjusted her sun visor in the passenger seat.

Arnold was incensed when he received the fine in the post - even more so because one of the images shows his wife’s underwear as her skirt rides up.

The couple are now calling on the authorities to apologise for the “indecent photograph” as they fight the fine in court.

Anh Nyugen was also snapped adjusting the sun visor.

Two photos were taken of the couple as they travelled on the M1 in Coomera, on the Gold Coast, at 5.21pm on December 19.

One shows Nyugen resting her feet on the dashboard of the Mitsubishi Triton ute, inadvertently exposing her underwear to the camera.

“You don’t expect to be sent pictures of your wife’s underwear, I have to say,” Arnold told the Gold Coast Bulletin.

“It’s actually illegal, I think, to photograph up a skirt.

“Covert photographic surveillance should not be used in such an insensitive and disrespectful manner.”

Retired aviation worker Arnold is appealing the “unreasonable” fine in the courts, saying his wife could only have had her arm outside the belt for two or three seconds.

“If you’re driving your car you can’t be checking your passengers all the time to see if their seatbelt is correctly adjusted,” he said.

Queensland’s Department of Transport and Main Roads said photos taken by traffic cameras are “securely encrypted and stored” and only used for law enforcement.

“Mobile phone and seatbelt cameras take images of each vehicle travelling in the lane of traffic that the camera is monitoring. The images are then filtered by Artificial Intelligence software which detects if there was possible illegal use of a mobile phone by the driver or failure to correctly wear a seatbelt by the driver or front seat passenger,” a spokesperson said.

“These fines are issued to the registered operator of the vehicle by Queensland Revenue Office (QRO).

“If an offence is not detected, the images are excluded from any further action and are deleted by the system. If a possible offence is detected, the images are reviewed by an authorised officer within QRO to determine whether to issue an infringement.

“Images are used only for enforcement purposes and are securely encrypted and stored under current legislative requirements. Only images taken that may show an offence are viewed and retained by QRO.”